Experts Welcome E-rickshaws Guidelines

NEW DELHI: Environmentalists and public transport experts are relieved that the Centre has proposed draft guidelines to regulate e-rickshaws under the Motor Vehicles Act. E-rickshaws may have been in the news for all the wrong reasons, but many believe these had the potential to solve the city’s last-mile connectivity problem.

Similar paratransit modes are successfully regulated all over the world. Even cycle-rickshaws are regulated and have a licensing mechanism overseen by the municipal corporations. Pedicabs are regulated in most cities in the US and Europe—Philadelphia City Council mandates pedicabs utilize permitted streets, do not operate after dusk or on the sidewalk, and never board or de-board passengers from a roadway travel lane.

In Philippines, tricycles are regulated by the transport department. Its government now plans to put electric tricycles—similar to Delhi’s e-rickshaws—on the road to address the issue of air pollution. It has recently released Peso 505.6 million (around Rs 700 crore) to the department of energy for an E-Trikes project for Manila.

“Take the example of Delhi University where students were using e-rickshaws to go to college from Metro stations. Students have told me that they have to spend Rs 40 in an auto against Rs 10 in an e-rickshaw, which is equally or more efficient. People will start opting for motorized transport like cars if e-rickshaws are gone as there aren’t many options to travel from Metro stations,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, head of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)’s Clean Air programme.

In fact, Roychowdhury says doing away with e-rickshaws will be like destroying Delhi’s public transport system. “We certainly need to make some basic safety checks; we have enough regulations for disposal of batteries. We have a high-powered committee on electric vehicles, then why are we making e-rickshaws an exception? I think this zero-emission mode needs to be celebrated,” she added.

To start with, allowing e-rickshaws to run within an 800-1,000m radius of Metro stations can be useful.

Experts say e-rickshaws seemed to meet a latent demand for fast, comfortable para-transit that was not met by autos. E-rickshaws were running short distances due to lack of charging points, some suggest that the government can set up battery charging stations, preferably with solar power, near Metro stations.

“They don’t have a battery which is less than 250 Watt, as was thought earlier. Most e-rickshaws have an over 650-Watt battery which make them motor vehicles so they can be regulated under MV Act. There needs to be another regulation to check basic things like visibility, brakes, frame etc. The Delhi environment department can possibly regulate battery disposal. I think e-rickshaws can be an excellent last-mile connectivity mode for the city,” said a public transport expert who has studied e-rickshaws in Delhi.

Some suggest that e-rickshaws can be limited to non-motorized transport (NMT) lanes so that they don’t disrupt traffic. One e-rickshaw per owner can also help in ensuring that there is no sub-letting or mafia involved.

Ravi Agarwal of Toxics Link said that the existing acid battery management and handling rules have failed due to lack of enforcement. “The rules have to be enforced strictly or it can lead to serious soil and water pollution,” he said.

E-rickshaws can also help Delhi deal with its air pollution crisis. The LG’s high-powered committee on air pollution has also recommended promotion of battery-run vehicles. “E-rickshaws are important in Delhi because they have zero emissions. I agree that they need conventional power to charge and this leads to pollution elsewhere from power plants. But for a city that’s suffering from very poor air quality, it needs to promote non-polluting modes,” said Sarath Guttikunda of urbanemissions.info.

As far as livelihood and business is concerned, e-rickshaws have given income options to over 1 lakh people in the capital. The batteries are currently imported from China but can be made locally too.